they would have us engage in short-term temporary policies that have put us in this fix. in essence, they saying, have more of the same. agree to drive our economy off part of the fiscal cliff instead of driving it off the whole fiscal cliff and we will call it a day. that will not get us out of the problem and it will hurt or economy. we can't keep going on like that. we can't keep setting the bar that low. it is time we raise the bar. the american people this week didn't give us a mandate to simply do the simple thing. they elected us to lead. they gave us a mandate to work together to do the best if our country. we know what the best thing to do would be, that would be an agreement that sends the signal to our economy and to the world after years of punting on the major fiscal challenges we face, 2013 is going to be different. it would be an agreement that begins to pave the way for long-term growth essential if we want to lit the cloud of deficits hanging over our country. we also have the problem of our fiscal imbalance over might and we will not do knit a lame duck